New Sniper Location System Will Save Lives in Urban Warfare Settings

In a combat situation, being able to quickly and accurately identify the location of an enemy shooter can mean the difference between life and death. In urban warfare settings with lots of background noise and echoes coming from buildings and other large objects it can be difficult for the human ear to pinpoint the location from which a gunshot emanated. There are some sniper location systems that do a pretty good job, but they can be large, difficult to move around and can run up to $50,000 each. These systems also have trouble locating a shooter that is not within a line of sight of the device itself. That can be a fatal omission.

A Better Sniper Location System

Now, there's a better choice. Engineers at Vanderbilt University's Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS) have developed a more accurate, lower cost system to locate the source of gunshots. The new system uses high sensitivity microphones embedded in the helmets of soldiers as a sensor network. The microphones can easily identify the distinctive characteristics of high powered rifle shots and, because of a gunshot's unique auditory signature, the ISIS sniper location system can reliably pick gunshots out of background noise. Echoes are filtered out using a proprietary algorithm developed by the ISIS team. Furthermore, the new ISIS system can identify the caliber of the rifle used.

Sniper Location System Field Test Results

Multiple field tests of the system where conducted at Fort Benning in Georgia. During the tests, the ISIS Sniper Location system was able to pick out the location of a sniper using a high power rifle even with automatic machine gun fire occurring simultaneously. It also reliably found four separate snipers in different locations firing within a period of two seconds.

How the ISIS Sniper Location System Works

Using the sounds received by at least three of the four receivers on a single helmet, the system can very quickly identify the direction from which the bullet came. If the same helmet picks up the initial shockwave caused by compression wave that flows out from the bullet speeding through the air, it can also accurately determine the distance to the shooter. If two or more helmets pick up the sounds, then the precision of the location goes up dramatically. The information is immediately sent via Bluetooth to a hand held PDA device carried by the soldiers where it is displayed. Each helmet based system communicates with those of other soldiers in the unit through a commercially available wireless technology known as Zigbee.

Saving Lives and Saving Money

Directional information alone allows soldiers to effectively take cover and protect themselves from further shots. When you add the distance information, then return fire or other measure to eliminate the threat can be taken. The ISIS Sniper Location System is a definite advancement in battlefield technology that will save lives. According to information on the Vanderbilt University Explorations website, the system will also save money over conventional sniper location systems since each node of the system costs only about $1000 and can be made from readily available components and consumer electronics devices.

Sources:

Countersniper System. Vanderbilt University. Retrieved from www.isis.vanderbilt.edu/projects/countersniper on March 25th, 2009.

David F. Salisbury. Network Turns Soldiers' Helmets into Sniper Location System. Exploration Stories, Vanderbilt University, 3/19/09. Retrieved from www.vanderbilt.edu/exploration/stories/shooterloc.html on March 25, 2009.